Effects of psychological interventions for patients with osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of psychological interventions (e.g. cognitive restructuring, relaxation) on physiological and psychological health in osteoarthritis patients. A systematic literature search was done using PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and Wanfang Database through November 2016. Studies were included if they used a randomized controlled trial designed to explore the effects of psychological interventions in osteoarthritis patients. Two independent authors assessed the methodological quality of the trials using criteria outlined by Jadad et al. Meta-analysis was done with the Revman5.0. Twelve randomized controlled trials, including 1307 osteoarthritis patients, met the study inclusion criteria. Meta-analysis showed that psychological interventions could reduce the levels of pain [standard mean difference (SMD) ?0.28, 95% CI ?0.48, ?0.08, P-value 0.005)] and fatigue (SMD ?0.18, 95% CI ?0.34, ?0.01, P-value 0.04). In addition, psychological interventions significantly improved osteoarthritis patients’ self-efficacy (SMD 0.58, 95% CI 0.40, 0.75, P-value 0.00) and pain coping (MD 1.64, 95% CI 0.03, 3.25, P-value 0.05). Although the effects on physical function, anxiety, depression, psychological disability were in the expected direction, they were not statistically significant. In conclusion, the role of psychological interventions in the management of osteoarthritis remains equivocal. Some encouraging results were seen with regard to pain, pain coping, self-efficacy, and fatigue. We believe that more methodologically rigorous large-scale randomized controlled trials are necessary to answer this study question.     

建构反应题中能力估计准确性的影响因素:评分者人数和项目个数的交互作用

采用康春花、孙小坚和曾平飞(2016)提出的等级反应多水平侧面模型探讨了评分者人数和项目个数对被试能力估计准确性的影响。模拟研究的结果表明:(1)随着项目个数的增加,估计值与真值之间的相关也不断增加;(2)评分者人数和项目个数在平均绝对偏差(MAB)和误差均方根(RMSE)上的主效应均显著,两者间的交互效应也显著;(3)简单效应分析发现,当项目较少时,3个评分者条件下的能力估计准确性最好; 随着项目个数的增加,4个评分者的估计误差迅速下降,且表现变为最好。     

Discrimination threshold for haptic volume perception of fingers and phalanges

Humans exhibit a remarkable ability to discriminate variations in object volume based on natural haptic perception. The discrimination thresholds for the haptic volume perception of the whole hand are well known, but the discrimination thresholds for haptic volume perception of fingers and phalanges are still unknown. In the present study, two psychophysical experiments were performed to investigate haptic volume perception in various fingers and phalanges. The configurations of both experiments were completely dependent on haptic volume perception from the fingers and phalanges. The participants were asked to blindly discriminate the volume variation of regular solid objects in a random order by using the distal phalanx, medial phalanx, and proximal phalanx of their index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger. The discrimination threshold of haptic volume perception gradually decreases from the little finger to the index finger as well as from the proximal phalanx to the distal phalanx. Overall, both the shape of the target and the part of the finger in contact with the target significantly influence the precision of haptic perception of volume. This substantial data set provides detailed and compelling perspectives on the haptic system, including for discrimination of the spatial size of objects and for performing more general perceptual processes.     

反应抑制的训练:内容、效果与机制

近期的研究发现,个体的反应抑制能力具有一定的可塑性。研究者多采用双盲随机对照实验设计,训练的对象包括儿童、成人和特殊群体,研究者通过Go/Nogo、Stop-signal等任务进行为期1周至3周,45至7200试次不等的抑制控制能力训练,并结合行为、脑电以及脑成像等技术对训练效果进行评估,研究结果发现,接受了抑制控制训练的个体其抑制能力得到提升,并伴随脑神经活动的变化。另外,研究者发现,抑制控制能力的训练效果还可以迁移至个体日常生活中的表现。但是,也有些研究并未发现抑制控制训练的效果。训练任务的设置,评估任务的选择以及被试反应策略的差异等因素可能会影响训练的效果。抑制控制训练引发行为与大脑活动的变化可能是由于训练导致了个体建立了自上而下有意识的抑制控制模式和自下而上的自动抑制模式。反应抑制和冲突抑制可塑性的比较,儿童与老年人抑制功能的训练以及训练效果的追踪研究将成为该领域日后研究的重点问题。     

3～6岁儿童人格发展的群组序列追踪研究

目的:运用自编幼儿人格发展教师评定问卷对幼儿人格进行追踪测量,探讨其年龄及性别发展特点。方法:用整群抽样法选取3~3.5岁、3.5~4岁、4~4.5岁3个年龄群组幼儿为被试,采用群组序列的追踪设计,进行为期1年半的追踪测量,结合潜变量增长曲线模型和多层线性模型处理数据,探讨幼儿在3~6岁间人格的发展特点。结果:(1)幼儿的智能特征、认真自控、外倾性、亲社会性、情绪稳定性5个人格维度在3~4岁发展最快,4~5岁持续增长但发展速度放缓,到5~6岁时趋于平稳;(2)女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在3岁时显著高于男孩,但在3~6岁间的增长率不存在差异,即女孩的认真自控和亲社会性在幼儿阶段发展水平始终高于男孩。结论:从家庭进入幼儿园的环境变迁促使了幼儿人格的进一步发展,5岁左右幼儿人格开始初步形成;女孩的认真自控和亲社会性水平在幼儿阶段始终高于男孩。     

Cognitive decline in old age: separating retest effects from the effects of growing older

Repeated administration of cognitive tests improves test performance, making it difficult for researchers to gauge the true extent of age-related cognitive decline. The authors examined this issue using data from the Rush Religious Orders Study and linear mixed-effects models. At annual intervals for up to 8 years, more than 800 older Catholic clergy members completed the same set of 19 cognitive tests from which previously established composite measures of cognitive domains were derived. Retest effects on some measures were substantial and continued to accumulate even after 8 annual test readministrations, but effects on other measures were minimal. Across cognitive measures, retest effects were not related to age, sex, or education. Individual differences in retest effects were substantial but not consistent across cognitive measures. The results suggest that retest-based improvement in cognitive test performance can be substantial and persistent.     

Bayesian analysis of mixtures in structural equation models with non‐ignorable missing data

Structural equation models (SEMs) have become widely used to determine the interrelationships between latent and observed variables in social, psychological, and behavioural sciences. As heterogeneous data are very common in practical research in these fields, the analysis of mixture models has received a lot of attention in the literature. An important issue in the analysis of mixture SEMs is the presence of missing data, in particular of data missing with a non‐ignorable mechanism. However, only a limited amount of work has been done in analysing mixture SEMs with non‐ignorable missing data. The main objective of this paper is to develop a Bayesian approach for analysing mixture SEMs with an unknown number of components and non‐ignorable missing data. A simulation study shows that Bayesian estimates obtained by the proposed Markov chain Monte Carlo methods are accurate and the Bayes factor computed via a path sampling procedure is useful for identifying the correct number of components, selecting an appropriate missingness mechanism, and investigating various effects of latent variables in the mixture SEMs. A real data set on a study of job satisfaction is used to demonstrate the methodology.